Pages

Friday, May 17, 2013

Feathered Friend Friday: Baby Birds

Welcome to our series "Feathered Friend Friday." Every Friday I write a post with interesting facts, photos, or funny stories about our chickens and guineas. If you need to catch up, you'll find all the Feathered Friend Friday posts here.

For today's Feathered Friend Friday, I thought I would post something a little different. Normally I write about chickens or guineas, but I recently saw something too cute not to share.

This is the second year that a bird has returned to this nest by our garage to lay her eggs. I always enjoy watching the mom tend to the nest as I wait impatiently for the babies to hatch. I was so excited earlier this week when I saw these five tiny birds in the nest! After I snapped the above photo, the mama bird was getting very angry with me, so I left her babies alone for a while. It was hard to do!

A couple days later, I noticed the birds standing up in the nest looking like they were ready to fly away. I remembered last year how they jumped out of the nest but stayed close by for a while, so I was wondering when I would see them walking around the porch. Soon after I saw this little guy hanging out on our bench.

He was so precious and let me get pretty close to get this shot. I really enjoyed seeing him out there whenever I would walk by. A couple more days later, I saw that one of his siblings had left the nest to join him on the bench.

I really wanted to pet and hold them (I swear I'm like a giggly little girl when I see baby animals), but I figured it's probably best not to interfere with nature and decided to just let them be. Today the nest is empty and there is no sign of the birds, so hopefully they found their wings and flew off to bigger and better things. Maybe next year one of them will return to the same nest to hatch her own eggs!

~Tammy

PS - Does anyone know what type of bird this is? I am not good at identification so I don't have a clue!

Baby birds usually don't look much like their parents - but as they are now - maybe a Mocking Bird?? But I feel that you're too far north for a Mocking Bird? Not sure -- but they sure are adorable!! So close and so cute!

This sounds just like my story last year with a robins nest right next to my bedroom window in a cherry tree! The Momma dive bombed me every time I walked out down the walk next to it. Probably didn't help since, I like you, was nosy and taking pictures, ha ha!! Your pictures sure are great and I hope my little nest gets filled again this year. The faces look identical to the birds I took photos of last year and they were Robins!Blessings,Susie

Have no idea what kind of birds they are, but oh my goodness, are they cute!! I remember the exact moment I fell in like with birds; several years ago I was leaving was walking on a school campus and noticed a tiny bird walking around. It was the first time I was amazed and its tiny stick-like legs that moved that little one around so rapidly. They are precious.

Whaaaat! They are so cute and grumpy! I would want to cuddle with them too, I don't know how you resisted. You deserve an award for that. Maybe even a trophy? I think I will make you an 'I resisted cuddling an infant wild animal' trophy. Why do they look so grumpy! I just want to poke them and say, 'hey buddy, it can't be that bad, at least you don't have to work a desk job!'

Very cute! The juvenile birds are hard to id because they rarely look like the adults? What did the Mom look like? Black skullcap, grayish belly, black back, black wings, and always flicking her tail while standing? If so, an Eastern Phoebe. If not, where was the nest exactly? On a man made structure or in a tree? If you could post a picture of the mom, we can identify them! :)

They are so cute! We have mockingbirds who nest in the same bush outside my bedroom window every year. I love listening to them in the morning. Count me as a giggly little girl when I see animals too. I went to a bridal shower this weekend ( outside in someone's yard) and there was a 14 year old golden retriever there.....I sorta wanted to sit with him instead of the humans. ;)

Seriously cute baby birds... I was going to guess barn swallows but it doesn't look like their nest is built from mud. If you can get a photo of the momma bird, you should have no problem identifying them via online bird id sites.